The Man Who Put The 'e' in Cabbie!

Mr Moses is a man on a mission!

A mission to remove emissions and a passion to put the iconic London Taxi at the heart of mobility's rEVolution. He's busy buying a bundle of TX Electric Taxis and plugging them into the vision he clearly shares with Mayor Khan.

His proposition, launched in 2016, is an App based service aimed at the quality end of the A to B taxi market in and around central London, as well as airport transfers of course. His burgeoning fleet of 130 electric cabs aka zero emission capable vehicles in the capital - out of around 700 cabs in total, without doubt represent an entrepreneur putting his money where his mouth is...no wonder his eyes are closed in this sky news clip - I guess he's praying it all works out well!

So, as I'd spotted some of his social medial posts about how he was busy progressively switching his entire Taxi fleet over to EV ASAP, I thought it was time I took a closer look, which in reality, was a bit of a trip down Memory Lane for me having worked at The London Black Cab Company in Coventry as a Sales Manager for a few years back in 2004.

Things have moved on from then - long overdue I'd say.

As it happens, London did have a couple of hybrid taxis earlier this century when I worked there. We successfully trialled a pair of Azure Dynamic Hybrid Electric Taxis during 2004/5, but the view at the time was it wasn't going to be a proposition that the market either wanted or could afford. That conclusion ultimately inspired Jamie Borwick to resign as Chairman of London Taxis and set up Modec - an EV company, which is where my journey started back in 2006/7. Some years later, together with a well known entrepreneur, I also re-visited an electric taxi proposition, this time with battery swap, and had advanced discussions in London with all of the key players. It was an unfulfilled opportunity, but that story is for another time perhaps.

So here we are in 2019. Th twin imperatives of improving urban air quality and holding back the seemingly inexorable rise of carbon in the air are front of mind for everyone with skin in the game...so that's all of us then in reality.

Front of mind in Asher's enlarged hippocampus, which like all black cab drivers changed its structure to accommodate the huge amount of navigating experience gained in acquiring 'The Knowledge', has been how to marry tradition with innovation. To be blunt, for far too long, such vision within the black cab trade has been sadly lacking, and resting on its laurels has inevitably let in some stiff competition.

So, what's he up to then?

Bring on your Electric, Connected, and occasionally Shared Taxis Mr Moses !..that's only the Autonomous bit left then!

For the record, the TX is a range extended electric taxi - with an all electric max range of 80 miles. How often the tailpipe sees some action depends mostly on how often the driver plugs in, or better still, as I discussed in detail with Asher, picks up plenty of electrons on the fly from embedded high power wireless charging pads strategically dotted across the city. A fanciful notion? You're going to see that in action elsewhere in 2020 and I'm going to take delight in telling you all about it of course - and I'd then love to see it in London asap!

For a far better review of the TX than I could ever muster I'd recommend taking a look at what both Jonny and Robert from Fully Charged said about it soon after it was launched - here

What I really like about Asher is his coupling of the tradition he's been a part of for over 30 years with the connected tech of the here and now, and the tomorrow too. Rather than grumbling about the arrival of Uber and other challengers, he's playing them at their own game and adding plenty of bells and whistles too.

Cheap and cheerful? Well one out of two is more than good enough and working very well for him by winning a tasty slice of a very lucrative London ride-market in the process.

He also monetises his investment through advertising, which, although nothing new, can now be forensically targeted for his clients like never before. His son, Jacob, has been pivotal in helping Dad connect up the dots, and he took great pride in showing me how that all works. Smart lad you got there Asher!

I could bang on a whole lot more but I'll stop for now, and simply suggest that next time you find yourself in London you download Asher's App and see it all for yourself.

And finally, if you have been, thanks for reading!